Court finds in favour of Harvey Norman franchisees in hollow victory
Thursday 11 April 2013 @ 3.17 p.m. | Trade & Commerce
In a recent NSW Federal Court judgment, Justice Richard Edmonds has dismissed all but one of the competition watchdog's applications for injunctions against Harvey Norman franchisees because they were filed in a state where stores have no presence, as reported in, as reported in an article in smartcompany.com.au
Justice Edmonds ordered all 11 Harvey Norman franchisees, except for a superstore in Gordon, NSW, be removed from the proceedings.
In his judgment on Monday (9 April 2013), Justice Edmonds found:
"I propose to do this because, so far as I can ascertain, only it and one other of the respondents are trading in New South Wales; the balance are trading in other states of Australia and, without agreement, any proceeding of this kind, by a regulator such as the ACCC, should not be brought in a registry of this court other than in the registry of a state in which a respondent is trading".
The Harvey Norman franchisees face fines of up to $1.1 million for allegedly giving customers misleading information about their rights under Australian Consumer Law.
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